APACHES

Apaches das Gesetz heisst Rache – German title
Apachen – German title
Punaisen veren huuto – Finnish title
Apasii – Romanian title
Apasi – Yugoslavian title
Apaches – English title

A 1973 East German, Romanian, U.S.S.R. co-production [DEFA Film (Potsdam/
Babelsburg), Buftea-Film (Bucharest), Mosfilm (Moscow)]
Producer: Dorothea Hildebrandt
Director: Dr. Gottfried Kolditz
Screenplay: Gottfried Kolditz, Gojko Mitic, Hans-Joachim Wallstein
Cinematography: Helmut Bergmann [Orwocolor, Totalvision]
Music: Hans-Dieter Hosalla
Running time: 94 minutes

Cast:
Ulzana - Gojko Mitic
Johnson - Milan Beli
Nana - Colea Rautu
Ramon - Leon Niemczyk
shopkeeper - Gerry Wolff
Captain Brown/Burton - Rolf Hoppe
Theresa - Elsa Grube-Diester
Miguel - Fred Ludwig
Doctor Klein - Fred Delmare (Werner Vorndran)
Gleason - Hartmut Beer
Ulzana’s mother - Elena Sereda
Ulzana’s aunt - Consuela Darie
Ulzana’s woman - Elena Albu
army commander - Thomas Weisgerber
sergeants - Fritz Mohr, Pedro Hebenstreit
Colonel Keanrey - Horst Schön
Bagule - Werner Kanitz
Hackii - Dorel Iacobescu
Pedro - Florin Scarlatescu
Chico - Lucian Iancu
Juan - Victor Marrodineanu
José’s woman - Ilena Ploscaru
Juan José - Sandu Simionica
Morrie - Wilfried Zander
Black Knife - Willi Schrade
Bagule’s sister - Carmen María Strujac
miners - Hermann Eckhardt, Horst Kuhe, Gert Hänsch, Eckhardt Becker, Peter Heiland
with: Renate Blume, Kaspar Eichel


In the middle of the 19th century, the Mimbreno Apaches and a Mexican mining company make a deal about mining claims for the Mexicans on the territory of the Apaches. There is also an American geologist who interferes in the finding of the coveted precious metals. Lead by their commander Johnson, the Americans commit genocide and kill nearly the entire tribe at the Santa Rita settlement. The few survivors, including their chief Ulzana, take up the pursuit of the fugitive soldiers to seek their revenge for their fellow dead tribesmen. Gottfried Kolditz's 1973 Apachen is an East German Western, influenced by (and made in the mold of) classic American cinematic forays into the Old West, such as the works of Howard Hawks and John Ford. The picture covers some of the same territory as Robert Aldrich in his 1972 Ulzana's Raid. It begins with the mass slaughter of a group of Apaches at the dawn of the Mexican American War, and then follows Apache chief Ulzana as he rallies his fellow warriors, hell-bent on bloodthirsty revenge. Kolditz followed it up with a sequel, the 1974 Ulzana.

You Tube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQcSKFffNI